


Selonia is For Lovers

by JediDryad



Series: February Fluff: 28 Ways Luke and Mara Get it Together at last. [26]
Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Corellian Trilogy - Roger MacBride Allen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Another what-if, Awkward Conversations, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Realizations, Romantic Fluff, Unresolved Sexual Tension, confessions and revelations, february fluff, romantic confessions, sweet smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-19 07:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29622645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediDryad/pseuds/JediDryad
Summary: In the midst of the Corellian crisis, after Mara escapes from Corellia with a Leia who distrusts her and doubts her loyalty to the Republic, both women, along with Han, are trapped on Selonia. Then the balance of power shifts in the battle and Luke arrives to free them more directly. As the reunited gang regroups to make plans to rescue the Solo children and deal with the conflict, Mara goes to disable the shields trapping her beloved ship on planet.In this story, Luke follows her. He wans to discuss a few things he's come to realize recently.
Relationships: Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker
Series: February Fluff: 28 Ways Luke and Mara Get it Together at last. [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129439
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	Selonia is For Lovers

Mara kept her relief to herself as she strode quickly over to the freestanding shields that had trapped the Fire on Selonia. It was time to melt those things to slag and Luke hadn’t fought her on it, even if he did think they should stay put while making their plans instead of getting far away from their captors.

He was right, she knew. She just hated being grounded.

Quickly, she realized Luke was following her. That shut down her sense of relief fast. She was embarrassed by just how happy she was to see him, by the sneaking suspicion she had that she’d sensed his presence in system before Leia had figured out who it was, and by the realization that when he’d finally caught up with the rest of them on Selonia, she’d smiled enough and spoken his name softly enough that he might have noticed.

Now, instead of comforting his sister over the capture of her children, he was following her to her ship. Why?

She examined the shield generators trying to figure out the best strategy for disabling them.

“Has Leia apologized?” 

There was durasteel in his tone. This was not conversation for the sake of conversation.

Mara spun around, confused, as she pulled her lightsaber off her belt.

“Why would she apologize?”

“I can sense her guilty feelings.”

Of course he could sense his sister’s turmoil. She would have thought he’d be able to put more pieces together than that though.

“Yes, she apologized.” she confirmed, “I appreciated it. I understand though.”

He looked confused and a little angry.

“What do you understand?”

“It didn’t look good. Me, showing up with a message like that.”

“I saw the message. Thinking you were connected in any way with the Human League was ridiculous.” He was very obviously offended on her behalf. 

“I probably wouldn’t trust me.” she countered.

His lip quirked briefly.

“Sure, but you don’t trust anyone.”

“Your point?”

He pulled out his cajoling expression that made him look younger than his years.

“I can tell it hurt.”

“Oh good for you.” He’d been reading her. She hated when he did that.

“I don’t like it when you’re hurt.” 

He muttered it so quietly she almost didn’t hear him.

Then, before she had a chance, Luke found the primary disconnect point on the shield generator and sliced through it a bit more viciously than she would have expected. He held the blade in place long enough to turn the metal molten and allowed it to drip all over the wires. It was irreparable, just like she wanted. The protective net faded from around the Fire and Mara felt some of the tension in her chest dissolve as well.

“There you go. All clear. Planning to head out then?”

The beseeching sympathy was gone, replaced by a sudden passive aggression.

“No. The interdiction field is still up. I wouldn’t get far.” 

She tilted her head skeptically.

“Did you think I would leave?”

“You tend to when I show up.”

She sighed and hit the landing ramp, not sure if she could handle a second Skywalker sibling freak-out in one week.

At the expression on his face, she beckoned for him to join her.

“I just need to make sure they haven’t sabotaged her controls at all.”

“What are you so cranky about?” she asked as they made their way to the bridge.

“Uh, my niece and nephews have been kidnapped by my brother-in-law’s brother.”

She shrugged

“That’s all in a day for you.”

“Really, Mara?”

Fine. She had been a bit flippant.

“We’ll get them out.” She made her voice reassuring.

“I know it, and you know it. You’re supposed to be Mr. Optimism here. Why are you dumping on me?”

“You’re planning to stay?”

“Kriff, Skywalker. I said I would help. I have people here too. People who wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t come. If I hadn’t accepted that karking message that was meant for you.”

“So it’s my fault.”

She sighed. Why did these people insist on blaming everyone but the real culprit?

“It’s Thracken Sal Solo’s fault!”

Luke paused. 

“That it is.” He let out a long sigh, and Mara could sense him let some agitation fade away with it.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” he said with a weight of emotion that she hadn’t expected from the stoic jedi.

“Me too. Glad you could get here.”

She raised an eyebrow feeling a little spiteful.

“I guess it gave you a chance to reunite with an old flame anyway.”

The confusion on his face seemed genuine.

“Who? Oh, Gaeriel? That was over before it started,” he paused and the confusion grew, “-12 years ago, Mara.”

She shrugged as she inspected the wires under the control panel. What he did and who he did it with was none of her business, she reminded herself.

She could hear him take a long breath and exhale slowly. He shuffled his feet slightly.

“Mara.” he opened, “I’ve been thinking. Or well, I’ve been spending time with Lando.”

“Huh, the two of you planning to move in together?” The words were a reflex as she satisfied herself that nothing had been touched.

“What?” Luke seemed befuddled, “No. Why do you keep trying to pair me off with other people?”

She slid out from under the console and looked at him pointedly.

“Because you’re lonely.”

“Yeah. I am a little.”

She nodded and got to her feet.

“You know that’s a terrible opening for what I was going to say, right?” He frowned, clearly annoyed.

Mara raised her eyebrows again as a light blush rose on his checks. He looked nervous. She wondered if he knew how utterly unlike a jedi master he looked at this moment.

She always hated how that made her heart beat faster.

“That depends on what you were going to say,” she offered, recovering her composure. 

“So far you’ve tried to apologize on behalf of your sister - who I have forgiven by the way. As if I wouldn’t understand what was going on there - and then accused me of planning to abandon everyone just because I feel the need to not be stuck somewhere.”

“So it’s not because I showed up?”

“What? No. Your showing up is the only reason I’m not grounded right now.”

He became accusatory.

“So you know you can run away if you like.”

“I don’t run away.” Her words were sharp.

“Fine, you know you can exit this situation, if you choose.”

“I’ve always had an exit strategy.” She nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, I know.”

He took a deep breath again, “I don’t.”

“You’re all over the place today, Skywalker.”

“You’re making this difficult.”

“Don’t I always?”

He chuckled to himself.

“Yeah, but I usually like that.”

Mara was disbelieving 

“Sure you do.”

He smiled at her and she felt heat rise on her own face. Force what was wrong with her?

“I’ve been chaperoning Lando’s wife finding expedition.” He started.

Mara laughed.

“Stars, he really did it? He really got you to come along?”

“It doesn’t bother you?” 

“Why would that bother me?”

“Because you used to be together and now he’s with someone else.”

Mara allowed herself to look smug for a moment.

“We were never together.”

“What?” Luke froze, mouth open wide.

“Skywalker. Did Lando and I make sense?” 

“Well I didn’t think so but people don’t always know until they try.”

Mara felt another gasp of laughter bubble out of her at his attempt at diplomacy.

“Some people don’t know after that either.” he muttered. That one seemed more directed at himself than her.

Mara rolled her eyes.

“So you’ve been helping him find a wife…”

“Yeah. I thought it was ridiculous. You can’t just take applications for someone to fall in love with. But he asked for my help, so I went along.”

That sounded about right, Mara acknowledged with a nod.

“Also, Mon Mothma endorsed the trip and seemed to think I would learn something.”

He hitched for a moment and smiled to himself ruefully.

“She was right.”

He looked back up at Mara’s waiting, skeptical expression, and shook his head slightly to get himself back on track.

“Anyway. I went along and I watched him. I was amazed by his faith in it all. He seemed to believe that if he met someone who liked him alright and who wanted the same things he did, he could make it work.

And then it seemed like maybe he did - and she followed him here, in the middle of a violent crisis. It made me think that maybe love isn’t just a rare, uncontrollable, spontaneous event.”

Mara shrugged at his apparent insight. She was in no position to be offering any wisdom on romance. 

“And then,” he blushed again “Well, Gaeri has a little girl…”

Something painful and choking rose in Mara.

“So you want to ask her out?” her tone was terser than she’d been trying for, but if this was about to turn into a courting consultation, she needed to find a way to cut him off. 

“No.” Luke was dismissive. “This has nothing to do with Gaerial.”

“Could have fooled me.”

He gritted his teeth.

“You’re infuriating.”

“I’m infuriating?” she poked a finger at his chest. “You’ve just followed me onto my ship and started rambling about marriage and children…”

She trailed off, eyes blowing wide as an outrageous conclusion drifted into her mind.

Luke caught her eye sharply and nodded.

“No.” 

Her denial was a hiss of defiance. She would not let him toy with her most private emotions like this. How did he even figure out this weakness of hers? She’d fought so hard to hide it, to keep her feelings to herself where they were safe from indisputable impossibilities.

“You’re lonely.” she shook her head and stepped back against the console, “You don’t know what you want. I’m just convenient.”

Luke stared for a moment and then burst out laughing. The warm, rich peals of amusement seemed to vibrate through her as they echoed off the walls of the cockpit. When he finally got himself under control, the look he gave her was overflowing with tenderness.

“You are many things, Mara Jade. Convenient isn’t one of them.”

“You wanna explain yourself, Jedi?” Mara was certain she’d just been insulted although she wasn’t sure how.

“You think I’m standing here fumbling because it’s convenient? You’ve spent most of the last 10 years all over the galaxy.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m the only human woman in the immediate vicinity that you’re not related to.”

“And you always have an exit strategy. If I wanted convenience, I would have approached Kirana Ti.”

Mara snorted, “She’d take you apart, literally.”

“You might too, and it would have been much more convenient to be murdered at home, don’t you think?”

Her lips quirked at the idea that murder was ever convenient for the victim.

“Less flimsiwork.”

Her quip was a demand for protection.

“Exactly,” he smiled and picked up her pretense. 

“Yavin’s burial laws are much less complicated than Selonia’s.”

He was giving her space to breathe. He knew she needed that. 

Mara took a deep breath and met his gaze. 

His smile was self deprecating, his eyes soft.

He was serious. He was serious about her. This wasn’t a game. This wasn’t a whim.

She didn’t know what to do.

“You’ve ambushed me here, Luke. You’ve never said anything before. What are you expecting, right now?”

His eyes grew intense.

“What do you want to do?”

She contemplated him thoughtfully. 

Luke Skywalker: galactic hero, incomparable pilot, insufferable idealist, terrible sabacc player. She’d hated him. She’d hated him with every fibre of her being. It was ridiculous to imagine anyone would believe she’d fallen in love with him. It was ridiculous that she would believe it of herself.

“Well, part of me wants to shove you down the boarding ramp and jump to hyperspace.” She shrugged, “Typically that’s the part of me that wins out at moments like this.”

And she’d just just acknowledged she’d stood at this emotional crossroads with him before. 

Fierfek!

“And the other part?”

He was shameless, undeterred by her bluff and bluster. He had to know. Somehow, he’d figured her out. He’d figured her out and come looking for her in the middle of an interplanetary conflict: a violent crisis.

He was offering marriage and children. No, he was asking for those things. He seemed to think she was capable of those things. And he looked hopeful, so hopeful. How he persisted in believing in her, she’d never understand.

She shook her head quietly to herself, a small smile gracing her lips. If he had that much faith in her, she could risk caring for him after all.

Then she straightened up and sprang into his arms.

For all his projected confidence, she could sense Luke’s surprised delight as she kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and fused his lips to hers with a passion suffused with sweet relief. She could feel his soul reaching to hers in the Force and, tentatively she reached back, and was swept up in the swell of love that washed around her in the moment. 

She clung to him as he whispered sweet words in her ears, wondering how she’d managed to convince herself she didn’t want this. She should have jumped him years ago.

He laughed lightly.

“You should have,”

Mara smiled as his lips danced across hers again. Then, feeling lighter and younger than she had in years, if ever, she took him by the hand and led him to her state room. He stole kisses the whole way down the corridor.

Time blurred as they fell onto her bed and lost themselves in one another, their growing Force bond guiding their motions as they helped one another out of cumbersome clothing and groaned out the pleasure of skin meeting skin and bodies warming to one another. They moved together, at first slowly and sweetly and then with increasing fervour as the pleasure grew to a point beyond tolerance and they collapsed, sleek and heat-soaked against one another revelling in the shared ecstasy of the moment reverberating through the Force.

“You’re beautiful,” Luke murmured, stroking Mara’s cooling body as they lay, still breathing heavily in one another’s arms.

“You’re not bad yourself.” Mara glanced around at the rumpled sheets and abandoned clothing. She noticed the light coming through the transparisteel had shifted significantly.

They’d been gone awhile.

“We should probably get back. Think they’ve missed us?”

He shook his head against her chest and inhaled deeply.

“Leia just reminded me to shield better next time.”

“Kriff.”


End file.
